NJ Car Dealer Sentenced To 33 Months For Fraud

TRENTON, N.J.(AP)–The former owner of a New Jersey car dealership has been sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for his involvement in a multimillion-dollar bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering scheme.

At Monday’s sentencing hearing in Trenton, 40-year-old Denis Kelliher of Toms River also was ordered to make nearly $7 million in restitution to KeyBank, NA.

Kelliher, who operated Cartec Motors in Bordentown, had pleaded guilty to three counts of a superseding indictment returned against him in January.

Prosecutors say Kelliher engaged in a check kiting scheme, writing checks against accounts from several banks to artificially inflate the balance in the KeyBank Cartec account when he knew the other accounts didn’t have sufficient funds to cover the checks.